Sunday, September 18, 2016

THE INN AT LYDDA

THE INN
AT LYDDA

Shakespeare's Globe at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse15.09.2016

Ending
its short run in the Jacobean playhouse, John Wolfson's intriguing
play is a welcome addition to the richly varied offer at this
Bankside address.In
fact it began life here, years ago, as a rehearsed reading [with
Sam West no less],
before turning up on Radio 4.We're
promised “A Meeting of Caesar and Christ” - the Caesar in
question, in AD33, is the notorious Tiberius. He's dying, and pins
his hopes on an Eastern healer he's heard about. But too late – his
man Pilate has already executed the miracle worker from Nazareth. If
not historical, then this much is at least apocryphal. But there's no
evidence that the ailing emperor ever made the journey to Judaea, or
talked face to face with the risen Jesus.Despite
some uneven writing,
it makes a thought-provoking play, the theology and the history
leavened in Andy Jordan's simple, lively production with a good deal
of humour, ranging from cerebral wit to crude anachronisms.The
Magi, now elderly but still following the Messiah whose birth they
witnessed,
have some of the best lines, Joseph
Marcell's Caspar particularly good. Philip Cumbus owns the stage as a
divinely decadent Caligula, and David Cardy is an engagingly
down-to-earth astrologer.The
two men-gods at the philosophical heart of the play are Stephen
Boxer's rambling, raging Tiberius, well contrasted with Samuel
Collings's serene Jesus.John
the Evangelist
– a strong presence from Matthew
Romain –
is
left to explain how some things are better left out of the history
books...production image: Marc Brenner

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About Me

I first wrote reviews for the Essex Chronicle in the early 70s, part of a team led by "Jon Richards". When he stepped down, I took over the organization of the Arts Pages. In 1988 I was succeeded by Mary Redman, though I continued to contribute reviews until the Chronicle stopped carrying regular coverage of amateur performances. Peter Andrews of the Chelmsford Weekly News kindly allowed me to write for his paper. After he retired, his work was continued by Jim Hutchon, who recruited me again to share the load. After Jim died, I continued to provide professional reviews of arts events in and around Chelmsford and Brentwood, until I finally hung up my pen and my word processor in December 2017.
Apart from the newspaper - now The Chelmsford Times - my views have appeared on The Reviews Hub, Remote Goat and Sardines. And of course, all of them were shared on this blog.